The Physics of Protein Self-Assembly

Abstract

Understanding protein self-assembly is important for many biological and industrial processes. Proteins can self-assemble into crystals, filaments, gels, and other amorphous aggregates. The final forms include virus capsids and condensed phases associated with diseases, such as amyloid fibrils. Although seemingly different, these assemblies all originate from fundamental protein interactions and are driven by similar thermodynamic and kinetic factors. Here we review recent advances in understanding protein self-assembly through a soft condensed matter perspective with an emphasis on three specific systems: globular proteins, viruses and amyloid fibers. We conclude with a discussion of unanswered questions in the field.

18 pages, 4 figures, CECAM Workshop

References in corpus (5)

• Phase diagram of patchy colloids: towards empty liquids
• Mechanisms of virus assembly
• Crucial role of non-specific interactions in amyloid nucleation
• Soft Matter Perspective on Protein Crystal Assembly
• Computational Crystallization

Cited by in corpus (18)

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• Limiting the valence: advancements and new perspectives on patchy colloids, soft functionalized nanoparticles and biomolecules
• Geometrical frustration yields fiber formation in self-assembly
• Equilibrium gels of limited valence colloids
• Real Space Analysis of Colloidal Gels: Triumphs, Challenges and Future Directions
• Soft Metamaterials: Adaptation and Intelligence
• Interactions in protein solutions close to liquid-liquid phase separation: Ethanol reduces attractions via changes of the dielectric solution properties
• Direct Imaging of Contacts and Forces in Colloidal Gels
• Universal effective interactions of globular proteins close to liquid-liquid phase separation: corresponding-states behavior reflected in the structure factor
• Temperature-dependent non-covalent protein-protein interactions explain normal and inverted solubility in a mutant of human gamma D-crystallin
• Protein solutions close to liquid-liquid phase separation exhibit a universal osmotic equation of state and dynamical behavior
• Protein-Polymer Mixtures in the Colloid Limit: Aggregation, Sedimentation and Crystallization
• Two-step nucleation in a binary mixture of Patchy Particles
• The ion activated attractive patchy particles model and its application to the liquid-vapour phase transitions
• Using schematic models to understand the microscopic basis for inverted solubility in $\gamma$D-crystallin
• Structure and dynamics of amphiphilic patchy cubes in a nanoslit under shear
• Exploring Conformational Landscapes Along Anharmonic Low-Frequency Vibrations
• Self assembled linear polymeric chains with tuneable semiflexibility using isotropic interactions